It was a truism that all civilizations were basically neurotic until they made contact with everybody else and found their place within the ever-changing meta-civilisation of other beings, because, until then, during the stage when they honestly believed they might be entirely alone in existence, all solo societies were possessed of both an inflated sense of their own importance and a kind of existential terror at the sheer scale and apparent emptiness of the universe.

I need to cut back on the tricep work a bit, as I feel it's starting to hinder my recovery. Also I have a very painful case of tennis elbow in my left arm which isn't going away. What I'm thinking about is three tricep workouts in two weeks (instead of four) and lighter weights. Maybe one heavy and two light sessions.

Also it looks like I'll have some time to train consistently now, so I'll try to cycle the weights a bit. Still doing 5-4-3-2-1, but varying the percentages instead of going 100% on every set. Might be worth it.

22 May 2017

Deadlift 395x5, 415x4, 430x3, 440x2, 460x1, 475x1

I think I figured out what I'll do on the deadlift. Keep the rep set weights the same and try to increase the last single by 5 pounds per workout. E.g. next time I'll do the exact same weights but 480x1 at the end. Once that stalls, go back to the five-rep set and add 5 pounds and work my way up the sets. When I've increased all rep sets by 5 pounds, hopefully the single will go up too.

Went a little lighter on the five-rep sets and the singles. Since I don't really care about my SlingShot one-rep max (the point of using it is to get some reps done with a heavier weight than usual, not to impress other gymgoers), I'll focus more on reps and just do a few easy singles at the end.

Rep sets are pretty much back to where they used to be, but the single at the end felt really heavy.

Smith machine bent-over rows 1s x 10, 4s x 6-8

Barbell extensions 3s x 6-8

Incline bench press 5-4-3-2-1

Seated cable rows 3s x 10

Reverse barbell curl 4s x 6-8

Preacher DB curl 4s x 5-6

Overhead cable extensions 4s x 10-12

18 May 2017

Squat 345x5, 365x5, 385x5, 405x5, 415x5, 425x4, 405x4, 315 x 2s x 5

Squats were a pleasant surprise. I had hoped to work up to maybe 410x5 and back down, but the weight felt light. One big change was to bring my stance in much closer than usual. Typically I squat with my feet pretty wide out, it has worked well in the past but since my hip/back injury I've had a lot of trouble finding the right groove.